Immolation
by Vhaenya
Summary: "You have forgotten who you are, prove to me you haven't wasted your life away." A bright flash of purple is all Dabi sees before he's plunged back into darkness.
1. Prologue

Dabi draws the hoodie over his face and steps into the alley. He continues to walk slowly, the figure shrouded in the darkness stills and turns to face him.

"I'm surprised that you're here." Dabi offhandedly mentions, reaching into his pocket for a cigarette. He summons a small flicker of blue fire and lights his cigarette, glancing up with a quirked eyebrow.

"Aw, c'mon. I'm not that late. No need to give me the cold shoulder." He's still met with silence and Dabi sighs, leaning against the warm brick wall.

"Well I guess this means that our meeting will go by faster since you won't be jabbering my ear off then." He exhales and watches the cloud of smoke float up into the night sky and he pushes off of the wall, a sly grin growing.

"Playing your little games on me isn't going to work in your favor." Dabi stops short as he gets closer to the figure and narrows his eyes.

Standing before him isn't Hawks.

Dabi curses under his breath, dropping his cigarette and slides a foot over the ground- gaining a better stance as he raises a hand towards the figure. It tilts its head to the side and begins to laugh- disappearing from his sight. Dabi clenches his jaw and holds his breath, listening for any movement.

"What a shame. Your time is slipping by and you have no idea!" A voice purrs behind him and Dabi whips around, a flash of purple melts back into the shadows before he can let his fire loose.

"Now that your time has finally come, you have done nothing with your life. You have nothing to your name, you have done nothing noteworthy and no one will recall who you were!" Dabi slowly turns in a circle, looking for that flash of purple when a touch as light as a whisper runs across his back.

"A villain such as you couldn't even stick to your guns and no one will care enough to remember you," the voice tuts, "Now as your time is done, only now do you look back and ask yourself, 'why have I sold myself so cheap?'. These years have slipped by you so quickly, piling up on the heaps of your broken dreams." Dabi rolls his eyes at the woman's speech and lifts his hand above his hand, grasping his wrist for support and letting out a large wave of fire and covers the entire alley. Blue fire rains down, smoking embers dance in the dark of the night and he brushes off one that lands on his shoulder.

Something cold grazes over his skin before the owner of the voice plunges the knife into the side of his neck. His hand flies up towards the wound, warm blood gushes slowly from between his fingers and a hand pushes him down to his knees.

Stepping in front of him, a small woman looks down at him with a wide grin. Violet eyes start to glow in the darkness as she takes another step towards him.

"You don't need to hide any longer," her eyes glow brighter, throwing the rest of her face into a series of dancing shadows as she squats down to be eye level with him, "It's time to face your fears."

"Fuck off." Dabi slurs, his body begins to feel cold and sluggish as he fights to keep his eyes trained on her. The woman in front of him only shakes her head and smiles.

"I'm afraid not. You have forgotten who you are, prove to me you haven't wasted your life away." Without another word, she leans forward. Freezing cold hands cup either side of his face and he can't tear his gaze from her glowing eyes- lost in the swirling purple light. She leans closer still and brushes her lips over his and finally closes her eyes.

A bright flash of purple is all he sees before he's plunged back into darkness.

* * *

Slowly, he opens his eyes. He feels well rested and warm. Thick downy blankets rest over him and the soft light of the morning sun filters between his slightly parted curtains. He rubs at his eyes and remembers last night, it must've been a result of too much drinking at the bar. Nothing but a skirmish with some homeless woman and he just let his drunken mind run wild.

He closes his eyes again and enjoys the silence for once. Most times, even in the early hours of the morning, the hideout is always bustling with energy and rambunctious laughter. A morning with peace is just what he needs for his headache.

It takes a moment for his thoughts to catch up but he opens his eyes again and frowns. His room at the League's hideout isn't this nice. There's no snoring from the other side of the wall in Twice's room and he can't hear the muffled mumbling and pacing of Shigaraki next door. He turns over and stretches, eyes widening in disbelief.

There's no hint of burnt skin or sutures to be seen on either of his arms. Touching his arm, all he can feel is flushed but healthy skin. He bolts up in bed, chest heaving. With shaking hands he reaches up and runs them over his face, he can't feel scarring or his piercings. Sinking dread makes its home in his stomach as he pulls a strand of hair down into his line of vision and bites down on his lip when bright and fiery red hair stares back at him.

Soft footsteps break him away from his growing panic and he listens as the person on the other side of his door pauses. He watches as the doorknob slowly twists and opens. A face he thought he'd never see again appears, stepping fully into his room and smiles down at him.

"Time to get up and get ready for school." He can't answer and can only stare at his mother. Her gentle smile falters a little bit and she sits down on the edge of his bed, a soft hand resting over his forehead.

"Touya, are you feeling okay?"

_Prove to me you haven't wasted your life away._ The woman's last words echo in his mind and he balls his fists, the bitch sent him back in time.

* * *

**Author's Note**

I take a break from writing one fic and immediately begin writing like three others. I'll most likely be publishing throughout the rest of the day with the others. Guess it's time to finally clear out my WIPs. This one won't be nowhere nearly as long as The Shape of Fire, I'm only planning on this being a few chapters long.

That's all for now, reviews are always welcome!


	2. When I Was a Young Boy

He feels like a ticking time bomb, like a beaten and caged animal. Touya throws himself out of the bed and lurches over to his closet, telling himself that he can't do this again.

Not again. Not again. Not again.

Yanking open the closet door, he searches through the pile of discarded laundry on the floor until he picks up a bag with shaking hands. Touya begins to stuff clothes into the bag, staying alert for any other approaching footsteps. He has no idea how the lady's quirk works, if this is just some sort of twisted nightmare or she really did banish him back to a time before he knew what freedom really tasted like.

He decides that he doesn't care, whichever it is, he'll take matters into his own, unmarred hands. All he wants is to be back in his shitty hole of a room surrounded by other chaotic and broken souls that understand him and accept him. If he stays one more minute in this house again, he's worried that he will lose what little sanity he has left.

Hurling the bag over his shoulder, he cracks the door open and peeks around. The hallway is empty and he creeps out.

Socked feet pad quietly through the massive, yet suffocating, house and once he sees the front door- he quickens his pace.

"Touya?" A small and chubby hand tugs on his pants leg and he tenses. Slowly turning around he sees a young Shouto still rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"Hey." Touya manages to choke out, seeing his younger brother so little without his signature burn makes his heart sink.

"Where're you going?" Touya looks around the room before kneeling down in front of his brother and gathers him up in a tight hug. Shouto lets out a small squeak at the sudden embrace and tries to weakly wiggle away. Touya clenches his jaw and closes his eyes, evening out his breathing and pulls away to look his brother in the eyes.

"I have to fix this," Confusion swims in Shouto's eyes and Touya only smiles sadly, "I will fix everything. Just wait a little bit longer, Shouto. Things will get better." His fingers dig sharply into Shouto's shoulders and the little boy looks up at him in fear.

"You're hurting me." Touya pulls way like he's been set on fire and stares at his brother before slowly standing up and turning back to the door.

"I'll see you again, Shouto." He murmurs and opens the front door, leaving like he once had so long ago in a different lifetime.

Touya runs a hand through his bright red hair and curses to himself. He has no idea where to go or what even to do. His mind begins to grow hazy the further he gets from the large manor and passes out on the ground.

When he comes to, he's back in bed with his mother looking down at him with worry.

"Touya, what's going on?" Her cold hand rests gently on his brow and he jolts away from her as if her touch had burnt his skin.

"Y-you're not real!"

"Touya." She starts, biting her bottom lip and slowly pulls her hand away, "What's gotten into you?" He jumps from his bed and edges around the wall to stay as far away from her as he can.

"None of this is real." She moves towards him and he fervently shakes his head, "Stay away!" Her grey eyes turn steely and she purses her lips to a tight frown.

"And just what will you do if I don't?" He pauses, confused. She still looks like his mother but the voice isn't her own. His hand ignites out of instinct and she throws back her head to laugh.

"Set me on fire? Boy, you'll only become more like your father." Her face begins to slough and in towering in front of him is the flaming figure of his father.

"Get the fuck away!" Touya screams and dashes around him and locks himself in the bathroom.

Boom

Touya is thrown back by the explosion, he shields his face from the oncoming heat wave out of reflex. A cackle bubbles up through his thin body and he leans back against the wall of the bathroom. His fire hungrily eats everything in its wake, he can only watch as the old wallpaper turns black and curls. He can't stop laughing, the dry and hot air burns his lungs but he doesn't care.

For the first time in his life, he feels alive.

Even when the sprinklers finally kick on and snuff out his fire, he laughs.

When he's carried out on a stretcher with medics all around him, asking him a series of questions that he doesn't register- he doesn't stop laughing.

He's alive.

And it's fantastic.

"Has anyone seen Dabi?" Toga enters the bar and Tomura peeks over the edge of the newspaper, shrugging.

"He's probably passed out drunk in some alley." His answer doesn't seem to satisfy Toga and she makes her way over to him. He tries to ignore her as he goes back to reading the newspaper. There's an article about some deranged woman that's been striking around their city, attacking anyone she sees, be it civilian, villain or hero. According to the article, she's been suspending people in time bubbles to make them face their fears.

While he wouldn't mind having someone like that on his team, there's something sinister about her- something wildly off. No one knows what she looks like or where she even came from, all the reports say is that her eyes glow a violet light when she activates her quirk. It seems to be all that anyone can remember when they come to.

It's times like this that he wishes that he could take quirks like All For One. He doesn't think that he could handle another wild card in his team without losing his mind. Just then, Twice bursts through the back door with a body thrown over his shoulder.

"Boss! It's Dabi! He ain't waking up." Tomura takes a long look towards Twice and the unconscious Dabi and back at the news article he was just reading. His pinkies touch the paper and it quickly decays in his hands.

Fuck his daydreams of having a quirk user like that on his team, because it just got personal. He rises from the bar stool and stalks over to the two men. Twice lays Dabi gently on the sofa and Tomura looks over him, more burns seem to be present over his skin and he clenches his jaw. Turning away from Dabi and Twice, he takes out his cellphone and scrolls through his short contact list until he reaches Giran's number. Raising the phone to his ear, he waits as it continues to ring before the broker finally answers.

"Ah, Shigaraki, what can I do for you today?" Tomura glances over his shoulder to Dabi and frowns.

"I need you to get here stat. We have some business to go over."

* * *

**Author's Note**

Am I going to name my chapters after good old emo songs? Hell yes. Am I ashamed? Hell no.

Sorry that this chapter took a bit to write out, I wasn't quite sure how to progress with it but decided to wing it like usual.  
That's all for now, reviews are always welcome!


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